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For over 45 years, GRAMMY® winner Jack DeJohnette’s wide-ranging style, capable of playing in any idiom while maintaining a well-defined voice, has kept him in demand as a drummer and as a bandleader, as well as a fan favorite.  From Miles Davis’ seminal jazz-rock album ‘Bitches Brew’ to his 25-plus year tenure with Keith Jarrett and the Standards Trio; from his avant-garde fusion group ‘Directions’ (and later ‘New Directions’) and innovative free-jazz ensemble ‘Special Edition’ to African, Brazilian, electronic, drum & bass, and meditation music on his own imprint, Golden Beams, DeJohnette’s illustrious career has been marked by fierce creativity, multi-faceted musicality, and singular approach to drumming.

Sparked by recent proliferation in writing, DeJohnette, at 67, is looking back and moving forward with a new project, drawing inspiration from his past work and new compositions.  The result is The Jack DeJohnette Group, featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto saxophone, David Fiuczynski on double-neck guitar, George Colligan on keyboards and piano, and long-time associate Jerome Harris on electric and acoustic bass guitars.

A jazz master who often looks outside the borders of jazz when selecting a collaborator, composing a piece or beginning a recording, DeJohnette has assembled a diverse group of musicians who, like its leader, effortlessly weave tradition with modern sounds and rhythms, combining jazz with funk, rock, r & b, and Afro-Iberian elements.  Middle Eastern…

2009 winner of Jazz Journalist Association’s Alto Saxophonist of the Year and DownBeat International Critics’  “Rising Star-Jazz Artist” and “Rising Star-Alto” category, Guggenheim fellow Rudresh Mahanthappa’s “fire-breathing attack” (Jim Macnie, Village Voice), fused with the culture of his Indian ancestry and myriad other influences, bring his inventive improvisation to The Group.  Born in the US and raised in Germany, prolific jazz-rock guitarist David Fiuczynski’s melange of funk-rock jazz, ambient textural improvisations, world-music elements, metal, reggae, house, dub, drum & bass and other new grooves, who is “very comfortable taking chances” was exactly what DeJohnette was looking for.  Pianist and award-winning composer George Colligan, who is also an organist, drummer, trumpeter, teacher, and bandleader, can “knit together a sci-fi, retro-futurist approach on synths” (David Adler, All About Jazz NY) and incorporate everything from show tunes to funk, from free improvisation to 20th century classical music.  Multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and published author, a frequent collaborator of DeJohnette (The Jack DeJohnette Quartet, The Latin Project, Oneness) is internationally known for his versatile and penetrating style on guitar and bass guitar.  He plays and “makes his ideas rise from below, nudging the music to change and evolve” (New York Times).

The Group culls its repertoire from DeJohnette’s classic groups and albums: Special Edition (‘Special Edition,’ ‘Audio-Visualscapes,’ ‘Earthwalk,’ and ‘Irresistible Forces’), ‘Parallel Realities,’ Directions (‘New Rags’), ‘New Directions,’ ‘Music for the Fifth World,’ ‘Album, Album,’ and Gateway; as well as tunes from the 2009 release on Golden Beams with Danilo Perez and John Patitucci ‘Music We Are’ (“Tango Africain” and “Soulful Ballad”) and new compositions, such as “Six into Four” and “Spanish 7” (aka “Spanish Moorish”).

The Jack DeJohnette Group debuted in January 2010 at Birdland in New York City.

“Jack DeJohnette [is] one of the most important musicians in the last 40 years of jazz.”
– NEW YORK TIMES

 

 

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